87.5月19日鉛筆的七種特質－白孟德神父（Fr. Charles Belmonte Lopez）語錄-譯者:林豪

The seven qualities of a pencil🖍️ which, if you manage to adopt them, will make you a happy person, always at peace with God and the world.

鉛筆🖍️的七種特質，如果你善於運用它們，將使你成為一個快樂的人，永遠與天主及世界和平相處。

❤️ First quality: You must never forget that there is a hand guiding you. That hand is God, and He always guides us to fulfill His Will.

❤️ 第一種特質：你永遠不要忘記，有一隻手在指引著你。那隻手就是天主，祂總是引導我們，來完成祂的旨意。

❤️Second quality: Now and then, I have to stop writing and use a sharpener. That makes the pencil suffer a little, but afterwards, it is much sharper.

You, too, must learn to bear certain pains and sorrows, because they will make you a better person.

❤️ 第二種特質：不定時地，我必須要停止寫作，並使用削鉛筆機。這讓鉛筆有點痛苦，但是之後，它就更為尖銳了。

你也必須學會，承受某些痛苦和悲傷，因為這些都會讓你成為一個更好的人。

❤️Third quality: The pencil always allows us to use an eraser to rub out any mistakes, turning it upside down.

This means that correcting something we did is not necessarily a bad thing; it helps to keep us on the right path.

❤️ 第三種特質：鉛筆總是允許我們使用橡皮，來擦掉任何錯誤，並將鉛筆顛倒過來。

這意思是，要糾正我們所做的某些事情，不見得是壞事；這有助於我們走在正確的道路上。

❤️ Fourth quality: what really matters in a pencil is not its wooden exterior, but the graphite inside.

So always pay attention to what is happening inside you.

❤️ 第四種特質：鉛筆真正重要的，不是它的木質外觀，而是內部的石墨。

所以要隨時留意，你內在所發生的事情。

❤️Fifth quality: It always leaves a mark.

In just the same way, you should know that everything you do in life will leave a mark, so try to be conscious of that the trail you leave is right.

❤️ 第五種特質：它總是會留下痕跡。

同樣，你應該知道，你在生活中所做的一切，都會留下痕跡，所以試著警覺到你留下的痕跡，要是正確的。

❤️Sixth quality: It gets shorter and shorter with use…. so too is life.

Put it aright while it lasts.

❤️ 第六種特質：隨著使用會變得越來越短，生活也是如此。

趁它還存在的時候，將它糾正過來。

❤️Seventh quality: It writes till the very end. Be useful and productive till the end.

Illustration: St John Paul II, in Guadalupe, a life lived for God and the others.

❤️第七種特質：寫到用盡時，仍有用處和具有成效，直到終止。

插圖：聖若望保祿二世，在瓜達盧佩，一生為天主和所有的人類而活。